Car hits high school girl athletes in Onna Village

A car driven by a man who works at a restaurant in Yomitan Village hit a line of female high school students who were visiting Okinawa for wrestling training, on Hwy 58 in Onna Village in the early morning of Mar. 7.

There were eight female high school students in the group crossing the street, and two were hit and taken to a hospital. One of the injured girls suffered a severe concussion and was taken to the hospital unconscious, while the other girl broke her leg.

According to Ishikawa police, the card hit the students when they were crossing road at a traffic light. One student said the light for pedestrians was green when the accident occurred. The rest six students and the driver of the card were not injured.

When questioned the driver told police that “I was not paying enough attention when I was driving, and didn’t watch the road ahead of me carefully.”

The accident took place on Hwy 58 at Nakadomari, Onna Village, and the visibility on the road at the time was good.

The girls are all second grade students of the Abe Institute High School in Tokyo, and members of the school’s wrestling club. The students had been running along the Hwy 58, and tried to cross the road at a traffic light in order to continue running by the ocean. The driver slammed on his brakes but too late.

The Abe Institute High School is famous for its wrestling club, and the injured students are good athletes who have won championships at the All Japan High School Wrestling Tournament.